The Hindu community celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi, a festival dedicated to Lord Ganesha, on Saturday, September 22, 2012, with great enthusiasm. Shanthi Mandir, located at 2006 Holly Avenue, opened its doors for the first time on Ganesh Chaturthi day in 2005, so this festival has become a very special event for the Mid-Missouri Hindu community – the temple is fondly accepted as a “Gift from Ganesh”. Like many small Hindu temples in the United States, Shanthi Mandir is operated on a 100% volunteer basis with community members taking the lead in organizing various festivals as well as regular weekly services. This special celebration attended by over 150 devotees was led by families from the Mid-Missouri Marathi Mandal with support from HTCC officers.
Lord Ganesh is the most endearing of the Hindu deities, revered by Hindus of all denominations. He is invoked as the “remover of obstacles” at the beginning of all important professional and personal undertakings and at the start of religious ceremonies. Ganesha is also considered the Lord of Learning, buddhi or intellect and the grantor of siddhi, accomplishments or success. He teaches by practice the positive character traits including steadfast focus on control of the senses, detachment from material possessions, noble and big thinking, elimination of the ego, and good listening.
Traditionally this festival is celebrated by sculpting the Ganesha idol from clay, consecrating the idol on the special Chaturthi day (the fourth day of the waxing moon of the Hindu month of Bhaadrapad), conducting worship services for 10 days and performing an immersion ceremony called Visarjan on Chaturdasi (the fourteenth day of the waxing moon), where the clay idol is dissolved in water. The significance of this form of worship is deep and allows one to reflect on the fact that while our physical form is transient, the divine within all of us (Atman, akin to the soul) is eternal.
Among the very positive aspects of this 10-day festival is that it is entirely participatory, with the community coming together at every stage of the celebration. The youth actively engage in helping out with making the clay idol; families take turns volunteering to keep Shanthi Mandir open during all 10 evenings- from the start of the festival, and others take leadership in consecrating the idol and officiating at the worship services. The culmination of the festival is the Visarjan ceremony, scheduled for Saturday, September 29th.
